An 'impossible' thruster is about to be tested in space

An actual EM Drive is about to be launched into space for the
first time, so scientists can finally figure out — once and for
all — if it really is possible for a rocket engine to generate
thrust without any kind of exhaust or propellant.

Built by American inventor and chemical engineer, Guido Fetta,
the EM Drive is as controversial as it gets, because while
certain experiments have suggested that such an engine could
work, it also goes against one of the most fundamental laws of
physics we have.

As Newton's Third Law states, "To each action there's an equal
and opposite reaction," and many physicists say the EM Drive
categorically violates that law.

This is because in order for a thruster to gain momentum in a
certain direction, it has to expel some kind of propellant or
exhaust in the opposite direction.

But the EM Drive simply goes in one direction with no propellant,
and thus violates the law of conservation of momentum, which
Newton derived from his Third Law.

And not only that, but it could produce enough thrust to blast
humans to Mars in just 70 days.

As Fiona MacDonald put it back in June, space
enthusiasts love to get excited about the EM Drive, because if it
works, it has the potential to remove major barriers in our need
to explore the Solar System and beyond.

But just as many are sick of hearing about it, because, on paper
at least, it doesn't work within the laws of physics.

Invented by British scientist Roger Shawyer back in 1999, the EM Drive — short for
electromagnetic propulsion drive — purportedly works like this.

It uses electromagnetic waves as 'fuel', creating thrust by
bouncing microwave photons back and forth inside a cone-shaped
closed metal cavity. This causes the 'pointy end' of the EM Drive
to accelerate in the opposite direction that the drive is going.

"To put it simply, electricity converts into microwaves within
the cavity that push against the inside of the device, causing
the thruster to accelerate in the opposite direction," Mary-Ann
Russon explains over atThe International Business Times.

Since its invention, the EM drive has shown no signs of quitting,
in test after test. Last year, trials by NASA scientists at the
Eagleworks lab revealed "anomalous thrust signals", and an independent
researcher in Germany conceded that the propulsion system,
somehow, does indeed produce thrust.

"This is an important step for the EM Drive as it adds legitimacy
to the technology and the tests done thus far, opening the door
for other groups to replicate the tests. This will also allow
other groups to devote more resources to uncovering why and how
it works, and how to iterate on the drive to make it a viable
form of propulsion.

"So, while a single peer-reviewed paper isn't going to suddenly
equip the human race with interplanetary travel, it's the first
step toward eventually realizing that possible future."

And on top of all of that, we're about to see an actual EM Drive
be blasted into space.

Guido Fetta is CEO of Cannae Inc, and the inventor of the Cannae
Drive — a rocket engine that's based on Roger Shawyer's original
EM Drive design. Last month, he announced that he would launch
this thruster on a 6U CubeSat — a type of miniaturized satellite.

David Hambling reports for Popular Mechanics
that roughly one-quarter of this shoebox-sized satellite will be
taken up by the Cannae Drive, and they'll stay in orbit for at
least six months: "The longer it stays in orbit, the more the
satellite will show that it must be producing thrust without
propellant."

No launch date has been set just yet, but it could happen in as
soon as six months' time.

As Hambling points out, Fetta better hurry,
because a team of engineers in China, and Shawyer himself, are
both also working on their own launchable EM Drives, so someone's
going to get there first, and we seriously cannot wait to see
what will happen.